Tuesday, April 17, 2018

*Monday Memos* Boston Marathon Trip Edition

*MONDAY MEMOS*

   
 (If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge) 

Weekly recap of my rather crazy, insane, but fun and rewarding life!
Posting without photos.
dear thursday, the day was spent getting ready to head to Boston!  So exciting!  We had a red eye flight so we didn't have to leave too early.  We stopped at Sky's in Layton and he drove us to the airport and brought our car back to his place.
I am not a fan of red-eyes because I can never sleep and I always feel like a zombie for a few days. I better recover before Monday!  We got on the plane and happily it was a direct flight.  It was uneventful. I watched a few movies and tried to sleep, but....uh.....nope.


dear friday, we arrived in Boston!  Yippee!  So excited!  I'm here!  AGAIN!
We got our rental car and then tried to find a place to eat breakfast.  The boys were ravenous.  We found a little hole in the wall pancake place and oh my goodness, the worst pancakes I have ever eaten!  Bleh!  None of the food was good.  Oh well.  
 We drove into the city!  HOW EXCITING to see Marathon signs and stuff EVERYWHERE!  This city rolls out the red carpet for it's runners!  That is for certain!
 I LOVE how they put pussy willows in ALL of their planters. They are everywhere!  So cute!
 Right on HEREFORD....left on BOYLSTON!
I will be doing that officially on Monday!  SQUEAL!
 The countdown is on!  I am in front of Marathon Sports.  In 2013 I believe the first bomb went off right here in front of the store. There was a memorial in front of it as there is every year now.

 Look what I found??  Yep, Tyson is letting us know he is with us in spirit!!  
This was cool!
We went to our hotel to see if we could check in a bit early. They said we could in about 90 minutes and so the boys choose to stay and hang out in the lobby while Dave and I went to the Expo.  I have been looking forward to the expo since I found  out I got in Boston!  It is by far the best expo I have ever been to!  It was packed!  I had to wait in a huge line just to get in.  Dave had to park quite a ways away.  

First stop was bib pick up!  This is a sacred event and requires many photos!  haha
I then got my shirt and they are not as great as last years.  I tried it on and then made my way through the vendors.  There were so many booths!  It probably would have been better if Dave had stayed with the boys. Haha  He's not a shopper like me.  I had a good time for sure!  There is so much Boston stuff!  
Can you see mine???
Last year I regretted not getting more and so this year, I got what I wanted when I saw it or I knew it would be gone. 
I was hoping to meet Meb or Katherine Switzer or both!  No such luck. But I did get some cool Boston stuff including a pair of Sketcher shoes that say Boston 2018 on them that Meb wears.  They are so much cuter than the Adidas ones.  I wore them for a bit but felt like they were needing to be broken in first and two days before the marathon is not a good time to do that.  They are definitely not for running in. We sampled a lot of things.  I got my poster that has every single runner's name on it.  We got some photos outside and then headed back to the hotel.  
Documenting all of the photo opps!


The boys had been able to get in a bit sooner and they were all asleep trying to make up for the long red eye flight.  I was glad they got some rest.  We kind of took it easy and then decided to grab some dinner at the restaurant just by our hotel called Floramos.  We stayed at the Doubletree Logan Airport in Chelsea.  I was really happy with it.  The desk people were really nice as well.  And the best part, FREE WARM CHOCOLATE CHIP cookies any time you want!  And they were so dang good!  SO. GOOD.  
The restaurant was amazing! Huge portions and good food. The boys were in heaven.  
We then went back to the hotel and caught the shuttle to the train station and caught the subway to Fenway Park.  It was packed!  
Everyone was going to the game.  It was so fun to see so many different Boston marathon jackets!  
We had much better seats than last year.  We stayed until the 7th inning stretch because it was getting cold and late.  When we got to the airport where the shuttle was supposed to pick us up, we had to wait at least 45 minutes in the freezing cold!  I was not a happy camper.  The shuttle guy was not very professional and I told the hotel what happened.  They gave us two free breakfast tokens for the inconvenience.  Dave talked them into three.  They should have given us five because It was more than an inconvenience.  We had been up for over 36 hours, we were more than exhausted, it was very late and it was freezing cold!  And some shuttle guy couldn't get it straight when to pick us up.  Oh, the joys of travel!  Then to top it off when we got back, they told us we had to change rooms because the roll-away bed would not fit in our room.  That took another 30 minutes. Fun fun.  By the time we did get to bed, we were all totally beat.  And we have to be up early in the morning for the BAA 5K.   

On a rather LARGE sidenoteThings are not looking good for Marathon Monday.  Right now it is predicted to be cold, wet, windy, and miserable!  The projected low is 32 at the start and headwinds.  It is being described as a possible car-wash effect.  Great.  I am trying to stay calm.  Trying.  I have at least learned that I have no control over the weather so I will have to weather the weather.  Dang weather!  But it is rather devastating news for me.  It is sounding like my worse case scenario! Apparently a Nor'easter is projected to slam Boston and get steadily worse as the day progresses. Here is my new gear!  LOL



dear saturday, today was the Boston 5K and I signed all the boys up. I really should have signed up too but I didn't want to risk injury or something crazy and ruin the marathon. Besides, I wanted to watch THEM!  It was the best experience ever! I am so glad I signed them up even if it was pricey!  It was so worth the memory! I believe they had 10,000 runners!
 These are all BEFORE the race.
 And they are off!  Kind of hard to find them in that sea of 10,000 runners!

 Here comes Taylor!!!  I didn't get very many shots of him. He was running too fast and I wasn't expecting him when he came by!
 And here comes McKay and Bryce!  If you look close you can see them in the next several photos.
 They did it!!!
FINISHERS of the Boston 5K 2018!

 Bryce told me he has no idea how I run 26.2 miles!  He said he has a renewed respect for me.  LOL
 They were STARVING and so we were off to find breakfast!
 We found the CHEERS bar! It wasn't technically filmed here, but it is where they show it on the TV show. No one would get in the picture with me. The boys have no idea what an icon this is.
 We then went to watch the Boston Documentary and hear from the producers of it. It was very interesting and informative. 
 I met this VIP over the film but right now I can't remember his name. Dang!
 Dave and I hit the expo one more time. 
 I became fast friends with these two cute ladies. 
 I wish I had one of these!

And LOOK who I got to meet!!!!
MEB!!!!
The line was ending as I got there and so I went to his table to just say hi and get a photo even though I couldn't get right up to him. He was so kind and smiled for the shot. What a hero and a great man. He is one of my all time greatest heros. Love MEB!!!!!
He won Boston in 2014 - the year after the bombings!
I was beyond excited!
On April 21, 2014, Meb became the first American man to win the Boston Marathon since 1983, besting many of the heavy African favorites in a new personal best of 2:08:37. With this victory, Meb became the only Marathoner in history to win the Boston Marathon, the New York City Marathon, and an Olympic Medal.
 I also met Joan Benoit. She won Boston a couple of times and was in the Olympics. 

For Sky:
 We ate at Eatily. So good.
 Boston bridge.
 This boy is NEVER full!

dear sunday, my Facebook post:
On this marathon eve I am feeling the normal nerves, excitement, and anxiety that always comes with running 🏃‍♀️ a marathon. I am also feeling very grateful for all the support my family, friends and all of you have given me! Your positivity and encouragement make such a HUGE difference especially when I am feeling the fear set in! 26.2 miles is a distance I always respect, even more so with tomorrow’s very unfavorable weather forecast. But I can’t control Mother Nature so I will run the race that has been set before me (even the pouring rain, cold temps and 30-40 mph winds!) and instead of a goal time, I will focus on finishing strong! Boston strong! 💙🦄💛     Tomorrow’s going to be one of the the most challenging things I have ever done (did I mention I hate fierce wind with cold rain! 🤪     and I am counting on much needed help from above. 😇😇😇.     I know it will be there! I’m still pinching myself that I’m here! And no matter the conditions....I’m running Boston!! What an honor! I’m gonna ‘soak’ it all in! 
#YOUGOTTHIS#monsoon-athon.
* My bib # is: 24579
If you text: 234567
Then add my bib # you will get updates on my progress... or lack thereof 🤪

Someone posted this: (so sad I missed this but Dave didn't want to go to it)

Old South Church in Boston on Sunday morning... Rev. Livolsi copy of his prayer. It was the BEST! His delivery of it was even more hilarious! If you missed it, here it is... enjoy! Definitely a highlight of my weekend!
“O God, for the smell of new running shoes, for those socks with the cushiony heels, for lycra tights and wicking t-shirts, for sleek little waist pouches that look nothing like the fanny packs somebody’s weird great-aunt would wear: we give you thanks.
For great beats, for music that gets us going: for Van Halen and Bon Jovi, for ABBA and Gaga, for Michael Jackson, for Shakira, for maybe some disco, for Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’: we give you thanks.
For orange slices, for Gatorade, for carbohydrates, for energy chews that come in Margarita flavor: we give you thanks.
We pray against chafing and blisters and side stitches and cramps. Forbid it, Lord, that any volunteer fumbles the hand off at a water station. And, pardon our asking, but if it be in your power: God, get us to the port-a-potties in time.
For the strength of our bodies, for friends who run beside us, for loved ones cheering us on, for the life that running has brought to our life – O God, we give you thanks.
Bless us running, bless us walking, bless us struggling, bless us rising, bless us racing. Amen.”

We went to church where Mitt Romney's son Tagg is Bishop. It was very fun and they welcomed all of the marathoners and wished us luck tomorrow.
 Purple houses are everywhere!

We went to the FINISH LINE to meet the Utah runners for a photo.
But we got PLENTY of others while waiting.
This is history so I am never sorry for lots of photos!
 The memorial for the bombing victims right in front of the finish line where it happened. It really stops you in your tracks and everyone becomes very reverent while standing there.


 FINISH LINE PHOTOS

 Photos with the Utah runners!
Definitely a highlight for me!



 Then Caitlin Burchill (in the light blue jacket) showed up to do a Facebook Live on the Utah Runners. She is a corespondent with KSL TV and she is running the race as a charity runner. She interviewed me and it went live on Facebook. I had SO many people text me and tell me they saw me!  So cool! I guess we were even on the KSL NEWS tonight!!! My parents saw me on the news!  How cool!!!







I am being interviewed here ↑ on Facebook live!!!!

 LOVE THIS PHOTO with my boys!
 READY OR NOT!!!
It's here tomorrow!


We found lunch in Little Italy. So yummy. Dave remember the restaurant we went to last year and we found it. So fun! 

 Then we HAD to go to Mike's Pastries!  The line was huge as usual!  The boys had fun though!
 A few of Bryce's posts:
 My cute friend Robin sent me this photo of her!
She is so sweet!
And Grant was so grateful he wasn't running this year due to the weather predictions for tomorrow. 

dear marathon monday, see marathon post.

I am not going to write much on here. Go to my marathon post for the story of the race.
 Here we go! I had major butterflies!!! Major!
I could hear the wind and the rain PELTING my window so hard! 
But, I would NOT NOT run it no matter how bad the weather is.
I came here to run Boston and I am going to run Boston rain or shine.
Monsoonathon or shine too!
 Wow! I have NEVER seen anything like this, nor have I ever run in such conditions!
Are we really all this crazy?  YEP!
 It was FREEZING COLD!  Windy and miserable!
 Temps were below 30 with the wind chill.
30-50 mph HEAD winds.
A downpour that did not let up ONCE the entire 26.2 miles.
BRUTAL!
Beyond BRUTAL!
The BAA considered cancelling it many times, but went ahead with it.
Many were hospitalized for hypothermia. It was a sight for sure.
But STILL so exciting! 
I was pretty miserable the entire race. I am not a fan of cold. But I somehow found the strength I needed to finish. I also dressed warmer than many. So many still ran in shorts and tank tops. CRAZINESS!  Even the elites had on jackets for the first time in history!  It will definitely go down in history as one EPIC race!
 THIS sign was being held by this man and I ran past it, not sure who or why and I was a bit delirious at the time....but I ran back so I could ask WHO and WHY. He was a missionary for our church and from Brigham and saw my name in the paper so he went to cheer me on! WOW!
 Finally seeing Dave and the boys!
What a relief! They had a change of gloves for me. Mine had water leaking through. I took them off and water just ran out of them. But the insulation still helped. I was SOAKING wet from head to toe. 
A MUCH NEEDED BOOST!!! They also gave me some fuel.

 This was a sight to behold and to run through. WOW!  No one wanted their raincoats to be on for the finish line photos!
 ALMOST THERE!!!
The feeling is indescribable!!!
It is one of those things that you can't possibly explain to anyone else. I will treasure this moment for the rest of my entire life. WOW!  SO AMAZING!  
 I DID IT!
I survived that miserable MONSOONATHON!
I will never know HOW I did, but so grateful I did!  This one will go down in history of all the other Boston marathons!  Boston #122 in 2018 will forever be historical. Go read about on the internet if you don't believe me!
 I finished in 4:30. Not my goal, but actually dang good considering the unreal conditions! 
About 80% of the elites dropped out!
Go read my real post!
 These guys are the real reason I finished!
SO grateful to them!
 Shauna came to support me and stood out in the miserable rain!
 Was this worth it?
You bet!

Holy cow I was freezing after. I was shaking and hypothermic. I got in the shower with my clothes on because I was too cold to pull them off. Once I warmed up I was able to. But I wasn't sure if I would ever be warm again!
We all got warmed up and dried off and went and found some warm dinner!
 After we ate, Taylor had to take off for home.
We had to blow dry Taylor's pants so he could get on the plane.
EVERYTHING was wet!
I can't believe these guys stood out in that miserable weather for me!!!

dear tuesday,  Lexington
 The Boston Temple!
Legal Sea Foods restaurant.




DAVE'S NOTES: 
4-12-18
It's Thursday night.  Right now we're sitting in the Salt Lake City International Airport waiting for our plane to board.  We'll be Boston bound if everything goes well.  Hopefully we can get some sleep while we're in the air.  We've got a nonstop flight, but it will still feel like night time when we land.  

4-13-18
After flying all night we tried to find a place to eat breakfast, with marginal results.  Jo and I went to the expo to pick up her official race bib, but that was just the start.  Several hours later and about $500 lighter in the wallet we made it back to the Doubletree Motel.  Fortunately the boys had been able to check in and get some rest.  This evening we had dinner at a little restaurant that we could see from our hotel room called Floramos.  It was definitely an improvement on breakfast.  From there we caught a shuttle to the airport where we took the subway to watch a game at Fenway Park.  We watched the Boston Redsox beat the Baltimore Orioles 7-3.  We stayed until the 7-inning stretch and then headed back to the hotel, with an unintended 30 minute delay and then had to change rooms to accommodate the roll away bed that Jo had arranged for Bryce.  By the end of the day everybody was beat.  Hopefully we can all get some sleep.  The boys have a 5-K race at 8:00 in the morning.  As for the reason that we came on the first place it's looking like a cold, wet, miserable, windy day is what's in store.  The projected low for race day is 32 degrees with what is described as a car wash effect in the forecast.  Apparently a Nor'easter is projected to slam Boston and get steadily worse as the day progresses.  To her credit Jodi is doing pretty good not to get totally freaked out by the devastating news.  More on that story as the day gets closer.  

4-14-18
It's Saturday morning. I just dropped the boys off at the hotel and Jodi off at TJ Maxx.   It was good to get some rest last night.  This morning the boys ran the Boston 5K today.  It's now become part of the marathon weekend.  I was told that 10,000 runners had signed up to participate at $55/head.  That's a whopping $550,000, which translates into $177419.36 mile as compared to $211,832.06 per mile for the full marathon.  Whoever said that running was an inexpensive sport was missing something.  Taylor came in with a time of 23.10, with Bryce and McKay at just over 32 minutes.  After the 5K we made our way to Harvard and had breakfast at IHOP.  After yesterday's fiasco it was a good call. Afterwards we took the boys back to the hotel so that they could shower and get cleaned up, while Mom and I went to look for some gloves.  We made it back to Boston around noon to see a documentary about the race. From there the boys and I took a trolley around town, while Mom headed back to the expo. This evening we visited the Prudential tower and had dinner at the Eataly. It was a beautiful day.  Too bad Monday won't be the same.  Apparently there's a Nor'easter that's supposed to make landfall with projected freezing temperatures, 100% chance of rain, and 25-30 mile per hour headwinds with gusts up to 50 mph. 

4-15-18
It's Sunday morning. Some days just don't work out no matter how hard you try.  Last night I got on lds.org, found a nearby church, called the bishop, and confirmed what time the meetings began.  This morning we got up and entered the directions in McKay's Google Maps and headed down the highway.  What we didn't count on was McKay confusing Prospect Street with Prosper Street.  The next problem we encountered was that even the right address was wrong.  By that time we were already 30 minutes late so we decided to bag it and go back to the hotel.  We had been given a few vouchers for breakfast so we sent the boys down to get something to eat and I got on the computer to find another ward in the area.  It looks like we'll be attending a ward in Cambridge that begins at 1:30 PM. 

As for the Boston Marathon the forecast is getting worse the closer we get to race time. Jodi's beside herself.  My heart goes out to her.  She's worked so hard and trained so long for this day.  Now the very elements are seemingly combining themselves against her.  There's no doubt that she's prepared in every way, but there's nothing you can do about the weather.  

It's Sunday evening now.  We've had an interesting day.  We made it to Sacrament Meeting in Cambridge, which brought back memories of being in the mission field as well as my days in college.  Bishop Tagg Romney was presiding.  He's the spitting image of his father.

4-16-18
Well, it's finally here- the perfect storm.  Patriots Day, the third Monday in April, and the 122 running of the Boston Marathon.  Everything came together along with a nor'easter that's projected to bring sheets of rain, fierce headwinds with gusts to 50 mph, and temps hovering around freezing.  Not exactly the ideal forecast for running 26.2 miles dressed in clothing that would be more suitable for a day at the beach.  As for the spectators and support staff, I suspect that they will be huddled in masses, bundled in winter gear, and wondering what drives these elite athletes to do what they do.

We're sitting in the car in the pouring rain just off Commonwealth Avenue. According to Google Maps that puts us 0.2 miles from the Finish Line.  Somehow we were fortunate enough to find a parking spot. According to our calculations she should be done in just over 30 minutes. Were it not for the inclement weather we'd already be there. Hopefully we'll receive a notification when she passes 35 km and then again at 40 km. Unfortunately we've received neither. 

It's later now.  There was some glitch in the system and we never received the 35 km split time.  Fortunately, it was just a glitch and Jo, like the Energizer Bunny, just kept on going.  She fought a good fight, kept the faith, finished the course, and in doing so accomplished one of those things that will go down in history.  According to news reports this was the most brutal Boston Marathon in 30 years.  Such a declaration makes me wonder what exactly happened back n 1988.  She came in with a time of 4:30:01, which considering the weather was quite remarkable.  After the race we were all soaked to the bone.  She got first dibs in the shower followed by Taylor.  We had to get him warmed up, dried out, and fed before taking him to the Boston Logan Airport. With a load of classes he had to get back.  Fortunately he's got a direct flight to Salt Lake where Sky will pick him up.  It will be late by the time he gets back to Logan, but with the time change he should get a couple extra hours of sleep tonight.  

We were supposed to go to Fenway Park tonight for a post marathon party, but the rain hasn't let up much.  Considering that virtual every bit of clothing that we brought is either soaking wet or dirty it sounded like a bad idea.  I should probably clarify that last remark as Jodi's got all kinds of running gear, but not the rest of us.  

4-17-18
Wow!  What a difference a day makes!  It's an absolutely gorgeous, sunny, day.  No wind, mild temperatures, and a great day for a marathon.  Too bad there's no marathon to be run.  I guess it's only fitting to have a beautiful day for our Boston departure.  We've got a whole suitcase full of wet clothes that are probably going to push pushing the weight limit on the scales.  It's a good thing that we brought an extra one with us, especially since some of the aforementioned apparel belongs to Taylor.  


No comments:

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails